Study Nights
by Jak Spratt
Summary: Sometimes we all need some help from time to time and sometimes the true problem is the person who's willing to help you. Modern Taang.
1. Problem

**AU: Ok First Story... Don't be nervous..., As you may have figured out this is my first story and i wanted to do it about the Taang shipping, because let's face, Toph Rules!, so enjoy, oh and one more thing mmm... English is only my second language (the first one being spanish) and that's the reason why there's still some typos and grammar errors, so don't be so harsh on me, and finally i'll remember to all pf you that there's a serious heat wave and the last thing we all need (specially me) is more flames and I'll appreciate some help to correct future stories, Ok?, thanks  
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**Disclaimer: Let's face it everybody wants to own Avatar the Last Airbender, but we don't and that's a shame.**

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><p><strong>Study Nights<strong>

**Chapter 1 - Problem**

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><p><strong>TOPH'S P.O.V.<strong>

God How I hate Algebra!

I don't even know how it can help me in my future career!, Of course I know that every derivative from the matter is going to and already is an important part of our lives… blah, blah (I'm starting to sound like Gramps), it's not like I'm going to use them the whole time, ·sigh· sometimes I wish to go back to grade school and use plus, minus, and all the other easy math symbols, but the there will be no challenges at all and I'll be pretty bored about it.

Now I'm rambling… the real reason why I'm pissed is because of the fact that I keep getting bad grades on this class and I'm in danger of Fail the entire semester because of that. I already talked to Mr. Pakku (Prof. Catfish) about the problem, and he told me that either I should go to Summer School or I have to find a tutor so He/She can keep me away from Failing this year, Oh!, and he told me about a Surprise test the next week and if I approve it with an A he can do something about my grades (He could be a little harsh sometimes but he still can't resist from helping a student in problems), I almost hugged him to death but then I realized that this news could only get me more stressed and more desperate to find the right person.

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It's been two days since I've been looking for someone to help me out, I started with my closest friends, but everyone keeps telling me how busy they are and their reasons for not come and rescue me in my time of need, or lame excuses if you mind.

Let's start with…

1. - Sugar Queen:

"I'm so, so, so sorry Toph, I'm going to have a Biology test next week too, and I haven't Study yet"

(I "borrow" her journal every week and she's going out with Sparky during the weekend)

2. - Birdie (Suki):

"You know I can help you out any other day Tophy, but I'm going to practice with the cheerleaders this Saturday and I have to work on my History essay"

(Well…. I guess that's just bad luck)

3. - Sparky:

"I'll love to help you but I already have some problems with the matter too and I'll be a very inefficient help"

(…..Liar….)

4. – Snoozles (Yes, I'm that desperate!):

"Weeeell… actuallyyyyyy…. I'mmmm…. Gooooiiiinggg…tooo….ah, screw it! I'm going out with Suki, besides I already failed the entire Semester"

(At least he was being honest, but Birdie's alibi has just been compromised)

Right now I'm walking through the park from school, my head down, just like my hopes of approve that stupid class, I don't know who else ask and time's running low, what I'm going to do?, I won't be able to see my friends anymore!, besides I'm going to keep hearing my teacher's lectures over and ov-

**NORMAL P.O.V**

The green eyed girl's silent meditation over her problems is suddenly disturbed by the presence of a couple foreign arms around her neck and a male voice yelling right in the ear

"HI, TOPH!"

Almost immediately she took the stranger's arms by the wrist and by repositioning herself closer to his body, making him lose the balance which made easier to her the task of throwing him to the ground, leaving in the process their respective school bags on the ground as well.

Once she recognized her supposed attacker who was now in the ground she yelled at him "Aang I already told you a thousand times before to never do that again!"

"Sorry" He said with a hint of pain from his almost expected fall "I couldn't help it"

Once calmed down she sighed and said "One of this days you're going to make me kill you by accident"

"No you won't, you'll miss me a lot" getting up on his elbows little by little until he was sitting on the ground

"Maybe" She responded "If that happens then I won't have anyone to fight with" while telling this she sends a straight punch to one of the boy's arm "Ouch!" Once she saw him flinched a smiled appear in her face for the first time in days.

"Why don't you fight someone your own size, the kindergarten is a few blocks from here you know" Then he started to laugh on his own bad joke causing him to be again with his back on the ground, occasioned by the same person who put herself on top of him "Don't make fun of my size!" although the joke was very lame she was still offended by it.

"Okay, Okay you're right" the smile faded and was replaced by an apologetic face "I shouldn't have brought that up…"

"That's what I wanted to hear…" She felt again that sensation of victory from earlier, until he continued with the argument "…I forgot that you still have to grow a few inches to get in"

Her best friend's laughter only made her frustration to grow up, to the point where she responded with anger "I told you to not make fun of my size, of course I can get in the kindergarten any time I want!" and without thinking apparently

When she finished the sentence, there was a little silence between both of them which was almost immediately replaced by their combined burst of laughter

They didn't stop for a few minutes and just shrug off the people that watch them with a questioning look and just stayed like that, without any care about the world around them, everything was perfect

"Toph?" But it had to end somehow "Can you let me go now?"

The green eyed girl considered for a moment the idea of letting him go, but she won't let that happen "No, that's your punish for laughing at me", while telling this she tried to sound the more serious possible, obviously that was impossible because every 2 words a small chuckle could be heard coming out of her mouth

"Ok, it'll be your way" His friend didn't understand the meaning of that words, but she eventually find out the moment he started to get up, even with the extra weight of his friend's body, this sudden moment caught her by surprise because of the fact that this was the first time Aang has ever overpowered her in brute strength

"You said something about a punishment?" He continued and couldn't help to smile his usual smile, even tough he could get up, the only way he could positioned both of their bodies was with he sitting on the ground and his companion sitting on his lap.

"Toph, something's wrong?" He said very slowly, his concern was evident in the moment he took notice of a small hint of red in the girl's cheeks, little did he know the reason was because the position they were, she on his lap and her tiny slender arms find his way around the greyed eyed boy's neck to avoid falling down because of the earlier moment, but the biggest reason was the fact their faces separated by only a few inches and she could feel his warm breath "You're all red"

"NO I'M NOT!" that was her answer once she took notice of how warm her own face was, to cover this she took back the arms around the boy's neck and use them cover her own face with them to avoid his gaze.

"Okaaaaaaaaaay, you're not then, now can you get up please?" He was previously accused of being to naïve for his own good, and now apparently that was a true accusation, because he didn't seem to notice how awkwardly Toph's moves were when she was getting up, once she was he did the same thing and started to dust themselves off, then she started the conversation

"What were you doing here anyway?", When they finished, now both of them were sitting in a near bench "Just walking, I get out of school earlier and got boring, that's when I saw and couldn't resist the temptation of surprise you"

"Typical, always putting yourself in dangerous situations" They were smiling again about the comment "You know me too well… anyway…" his smile was replaced with a concern look "What were you doing here, you're always in your house after school"

She was caught by surprise again, this time because of his unexpected preoccupation "Just thinking… besides the house is completely empty, my parents are on a business trip and I get to bored", "Well, that's new" he responded "what?, my parents on a trip?, it happens all the time" "No the fact that you were thinking"

Instantly he felt another punch in the same spot as the last one "justkiddingjustkidding!" he said with pain and raising his arms to avoid another punch "What were you thinking about?"

**TOPH'S P.O.V.**

What was on my mind…? Oh yeah! I'M GOING TO SUMMER SCHOOL IF I DON'T FIND A TUTOR SOON YOU AIRHEAD!

Of course the though never crossed my lips, he doesn't even know what the problem is about, in fact he doesn't even know there is a problem, I'm going to tell him about the whole thing

"Ok listen, I have a problem…"

I tell him about the problem, summer school, the test and my unavailable friends.

…..

….

….

Why he doesn't say something? It's very strange on him to be this quiet; he usually has a cheery face and a- WHAIT A MINUTE! He's going to pull another joke on me?, because if he does!...

"I'm shocked!" Wait, what? He stands up and continues "Why didn't you ask your best friend for help! Uh" I CAN'T BELIEVE HE'S ACTUALLY YELLING AT ME! If he thinks I'm to let him do that he's so wrong! I get up as well and start yelling at him

"BECAUSE TWINKLETOES THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN A… really good idea…" I mentally slapped myself at least a 100 times when I realized how stupid I've been to forget the fact that the person in front of me, my best friend, is a freaking genius! I mean he always get the best grades and has a complete scholarship!

Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!

"Sooo…" Oh, and now I forgot he was here too! Seriously what is wrong with me?

"Sooo…" I answer back; I swear to my inner self is going to take a good ass-whooping after this "…You don't want me to help you?"

I stood there while I let his words sink in, my brain is still processing the idea but my lips have a different opinion about it while I mutter an almost silent "…sure…"

"Great! Shall we start tomorrow after school?" "…sure…" Honestly! Why this keeps happening! "OK! …You know is getting pretty late and I must go now, do you want me to walk you home?" Before my body continues working without his master I was finally to regain control of myself and answer coherently "Don't worry I'll take a cab"

"Oh… Well I'll better be going; grandpa is going to be furious if got home late again" He then takes his backpack and starts running in an opposite direction from mine "I'll see you tomorrow!"

"Be Careful Twinkletoes!" I told him one last time, before see him disappear in the trees, then I went straight to the edge of the park were all the cab drivers are

I walked to the closest one waiting for the driver to come, I wait a bit and no one was near only the usual crowd and a few animals, I consider leaving and taking another cab but this was the only one, finally I sighed in defeat and consider in taking the bus until…

I heard someone snoring from inside the cab, when I looked inside I saw what I assumed was the cab-driver sleeping soundly in one the seats, he was around his earlier twenties, tanned, black hair and had old leather jacket and hat on him, I though about leaving him sleep but I really wanted to go home

"Hey…" I knocked on the glass, causing him to stir a little, and then I knock harder raising my voice "Hey!"

He gets up abruptly taking a pocket knife pointing to something imaginary in front of him, I wasn't scarred because I knew that he was just surprised and wouldn't hurt me, not saying that it would be difficult to kick his ass if he tries something

"Back off gator-monkeys!" Gator-Monkeys? This guy is really on something… nevermind

"Excuse me Sir…" I caught his attention "Oh, sorry ma'am" notices the knife on his hand and quickly put the thing back on his pocket "Do you need a ride somewhere?"

At least he was polite "Actually yes" "Ok, get in" he gets out of the car to open my door

I put my bag next to me and try to relax in the old leather seats, when I saw his identification on the back of the seat I take notice that his name was misspelled 'JAK' instead of JACK "Yeah I know" he told me back from his seat noticing that I'm staring at the glued thing "That was a Typo, Where to lady?"

I shrug off his first comment and gave him the requested address

On the long road I couldn't stop thinking about what happened earlier between me and Twinkletoes, why didn't I ask him for help earlier?, that should have got me out from so much troubles, I always have breakfast on his house and we always walk to the school together for Christ sake! But nooo during these past days we had to talk about how I want to become a wrestler (not that I want to) and how much he wants to have a stupid arrow tattoo

I couldn't help to think about the incident too, I never been so embarrassed in my life! Good luck for me that the Airhead is too naïve to notice it…

…and… I hate to admit it but…

It felt… nice

I felt something that I really like about the situation been with him so… close… maybe I should have… ki-

WHAT ARE YOU THINKING? AAN- I MEAN TWINKLETOES IS JUST A FRIEND! HE DOESN'T THINK ABOUT YOU THAT WAY… or does he…? NO! NO! NO!

"Lady? Lady?" I guessed that was Jak's voice "Uh, what happened?" "You're Okay I was starting to think that I was going to have to get rid of another body" Another body? This guy is seriously hi? "Don't worry I'm just kidding, I've been telling you for the last 23 minutes that we're already in the direction you gave me, but you just kept staring at the window" NO WAY! I'VE THINKING ABOUT THE MATTER FOR THAT LONG!

Calm down… calm down…

"Better?" he asks me, maybe he saw my freaked out face; I only nod to tell him that I'm Ok "That's great, It'll be 82.75$" WHAT?

"What?" "Sorry…look at the clock" I SWEAR THIS PEOPLE ARE GOING TO MAKE HAVE A HEART ATTACK!

I paid him, took my bag and get out of the vehicle to the gates of my house while I was opening with my keys he call me from his car "Thank you, have a nice evening" i can almost sense a hint of satisfaction in his voice so whe i saw the cab speed off into the night I yelled at him angry, because of the fact that he took all my money

"BITE ME!"

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><p><strong>Yeah i know... I just wanted to add myself to the story just to steal Toph's money, can you blame me? so what do you think? click on the thingie that says review and please tell me I really appreciate a constructive review, Thanks for reading by the way.<br>**


	2. School Day Part 1

**AU: First of all I want to say thanks to Aria about her overwhelming review, i really appreciate it, from the bottom of my heart i give you a big thank you and some red things i found there, yuck... anyway here's the next chapter, so enjoy...**

**...**

**oh and please review, it makes me feel good...**

**Disclaimer: I want to own Avatar but i can't, and that kills me from the inside...  
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><p><strong>Study Nights II<strong>

**Chapter 2 - School Day (Part 1)**

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><p><strong>AANG<strong>**'S P.O.V.**

…I'm gonna kill that Rooster-Hawk…

Don't get me wrong I'm a peaceful person and I love all the animals, but I swear, if that animal wakes me up an hour before my schedule I'm gonna make a hell of a dinner with him.

Of course I wouldn't eat it but Toph would love to, I bet she already ate at least a meal with every different type of the available species. ·sigh· well… I won't be able to sleep again; maybe I should start making breakfast.

I take my favourite orange shirt and went straight to the door only to be surprised by my grandpa wearing an sports attire, a headband and running shoes "What's with your clothes?" I said to him and I couldn't hold my smile anymore "I woke up with a lot of energy… and now… I'm going for a run" I sure hope I'd have his energy when I grow old, I can't believe how somebody who already suffered an stroke, 2 heart attacks and a missing lung has that kind of energy… or be alive for that matter.

"OK, but don't overdo yourself… again" "Don't worry… I can take care… of myself" he said to me before crossing the apartment's door, I sure hope he doesn't get in any trouble… again.

I went straight to the kitchen but not before I found Roku's cage on the corner, the name's in honour of my grand-grand-grand parent it was grandpa's idea, he still has a good sense of humour at his age, I wonder why he had to adopt this noisy animal…

"If you ever wake me up again, I'll be sure to serve Toph a hell of a dinner, understood?" He only made an unidentifiable sound at my threat, of course I wouldn't do any harm but I'm sick of waking up so early, I gave him some food and went to the kitchen.

Once in there I start working on our breakfast, a pair of eggs and some bacon for her and some fruit and toast for me, since 7th grade she take the habit of coming over to my house grab some food and then straight to the school. In fact she's the only reason why we have animal products in this house, God! How I hate the simple smell of that kind of food, I don't know even why I have to be the one that always cooks!

I've been cooking for the last half an hour and the kitchen's clock is marking 6:30, I guess Toph is not to far from here, while I wait for her I decide to sit on chair with both breakfast in front of me, I never ate until she's here.

Now that I have a few minutes of peace I start to think about of the recent series of events, I was really surprised that she didn't ask me for help, usually when she's in some kind of problem or has some doubt she always calls me or talks to me in person, about school problems or more personal matters…

·sigh·

Thinking better, we started be more distant towards each other, sure she always comes to my place and the go to school together (almost every time on her limo), but aside of that we haven't spend the same time together in almost a month.

Some would say that's kind of lame, but was the real reason why I went to the park yesterday, the reason why kept going for a few weeks, Even if it hasn't passed too long… I … I…. miss it.

I… miss **her**.

I miss being with her, talk to her, argue with her, fight with her (she win almost every time (ugh, who am I trying to fool? SHE WINS EVERY SINGLE TIME!))

I hope this situation fix everything…

·…click…light footsteps…·

But first…

"Toph I know it's you" I said without even looking behind, there's only one person besides Gyatso and myself who has a spare key "How do you even do that?" she pouted while taking a seat on the other side of the table

"You're too lousy" I said calmly while extending my hand like asking for something "…what…?" she answered with a puppy look that could have fooled anybody…"Key"…but not me "Fine" her face went back to normal "I don't even know why you keep asking me for it, since you know that I already have thousands of copies" she gives it me "I'll keep doing it 'till you quit" I then throw the objet to the container beside the trash can, that's the place were we keep the other ones.

"Anyway… what are you planning to do with…326 keys?" she asks me when I took a sip to my coffee (Soy milk by the way) "Actually… we've only used 150 and we used them to make the bowl for the keys, it's by the door" she started with the food by taking a bite to the poor bacon "…huh… kinda ironic don't you think?" I sighed when she said this with her mouth full, she is from a rich and respected family and it seems she didn't have any matters at all "I was hoping for you to appreciate the irony" she smiled as well as I did.

"Hey…" She swallowed the food and started to look around "Where's-" the sentence was left unfinished because of a big white dog who threw himself at her, causing both of them to fall on the wooden floor.

I couldn't help, but smirk to the view: my pet on top of her licking her petite face with his giant tongue and my best friend trying to get rid of the enormous beast "Appa! App-! Get off! Get of-!" When she finally succeeds to get on her feet the first thing she did was launch a murder glance at me "You could've helped me" she start scratching his head and Appa moved his tail around in response "Yeah… I know".

She sighed and 'calmly' said "Have you feed him yet?" I take bite to my toast and answered "Nop, he only eats when you give him the food, you already know that" "…OK…"

When she tried to reach Appa's food from the top cabinet I realized that I forgot the fact that she isn't capable of grabbing it, the second time she tried and fail was the moment I get up and reach it for her. To do this I put myself behind her, too close for that matter, and then just pull it out, I had to do it this way because she's too stubborn to accept any kind of help and we'll have to be here until she takes a broom and then just throw the bag to the floor "There you go" I said while giving her the food's bag, she lowered the head so the locks of her hair made impossible the task of looking at her face, then she almost silently replied "…thank you…" "You're welcome" I answered back still trying to figure out what just happened, normally she would yell at me and then throw me a punch after I did this kind of things.

**NORMAL P.O.V.**

When the greyed eyed boy returned to his seat, he couldn't help but to stare at her best friend while she feed his beloved pet, he only stare at her and took a glance to the different body features that made her unique:

Her Skin and how pale it was, no matter how much time she spent under the sun that almost pearl like colour never changed, but it looked beautiful on her

Her hair, how he never seen that kind of waist long hair be formed in that impossible bun and held by that green bandana

Her body, she's always been small and that was the source of almost all his pranks but over the years, like any other person, the fact of growth didn't just past by and just embraced her instead, the proof of that was the way her clothes hugged her small curves of her now growing body

And finally… those eyes with an almost impossible colour, she was the only person he knew with that kind of eyes, some sort of greenish-blueish mixed with a hint of white

Every single part of her own didn't seem possible but yet there she was and he couldn't help but think that he was very lucky to meet someone like her. All this thoughts ran in his head for a few seconds, and when she came back to her seat she pulled him back to reality

"I still don't get why he like me so much, I mean I kind of … loathe him when we first met" she said while cleaning the rest of his saliva with the kitchen towel "But you love him now, isn't it?" she took a glance to the enormous beast while this one was eating "…yeah…but I'll be glad if he keeps this kind of love for himself" the rest breakfast was covered with a comfortable silence.

This was one of the reasons why she keep going to the boy's apartment, even if it was just for the food, yes it wasn't always a perfect meal because Aang was a veggie and he hated any kind of food provided by an animal, that's why he never cooked perfectly, but that was only secondary, she was almost there all the time because of the family environment she always feel there and always looked for.

When they finished both of them left the plates in the sink for Toph to wash, it was her turn this week, while she cleaning the dishes her best friend disappeared in one of the doors without say anything, once done she took her bag from the couch and just wait for Aang to reappear 'What is taking so long?' after a few seconds he came back with a big red bike on his back supported by his arms "Okay, Let's go" when she saw the bicycle she asked with a hint of fear, something very rare on her "…W-what is that?" he only stare with awe and said with a chuckle "…Do I need to say a joke?" After this she took a step back and shook the head, understanding what he meant "You're out of your mind if you think I'm going to get on that thing again!" he gave her a funny look "Why you're so scared? It's not like we're going to get killed while riding the bike" This kind of moments remind him all the times she always screamed bloody murder while they went to the school in the bike "First of all, I'M NOT SCARED! Second of all, you know how I hate that kind of things" he knew the girl in front of him won't give up so easily so he used the only weapon he had.

"OK, OK… how about this? If we don't go on the bike… I won't tutor you" she answered bluntly "you're bluffing" he smiled and answered back "am I?" If there's another person with a will just as strong as hers that person would be Aang he was serious about what he said and she knew it, besides how harm would do another bike ride?...

"Ok… you… win…" she answered with a sigh "…I won…? So this is how it's supposed to feel…" he was obviously mocking and Toph couldn't stand it, so she hit his exposed left side with a strong punch, he could've avoided it but his hands were busy holding the so called 'Torture instrument' "Don't push it Airhead"

After that 'Talk' both of them waved goodbye to the pets and went through the door of the apartment to the school, while descending the stairs, Toph decided to break the silence "You're not worried about leaving those alone?" The bike on his back and the school supply over his shoulder "They both can take care of themselves besides grandpa only went for a walk" "Yeah… riiiight…" She was fully aware of Gyatso misadventures she actually took part in a few of them.

"Oh Toph c'mon, it's not like he's going to look for frozen toads in the zoo naked" She started to laugh at the memory "You mean again, right?" he joined her after hearing this, It was sure to say that there was never a dull moment in Aang's life.

When the couple of youngsters reached the end of the stairs, they found a woman dressed in a seemingly expensive Oriental silk dress putting ads to the building's chart, they just tried to ignore her but when she saw both of them she stopped them by blocking their only exit, there they could notice her long black hair but most of all… her big creepy and apparently permanent grin "Hello young ones" They only exchanged looks while she continued "My name's Jane and right now a movement has started among us, which only purpose is to help us to reach a state of happiness and for us to understand better the…" While she continued the speech the pale girl rolled her eyes in response not caring if the predicator saw her, but the companion actually seemed interested in the woman's lies...

"That sounds great" Once she heard this, the so called Jane started to search in her bag some pamphlets and tried to give them a few "If you're interested I can offer you a full membership by the small price of-" a small hand raised telling her to stop and the hand's owner voice exceptically asked "Excuse me, can you repeat us your full name?" "Oh, it's Jane, Jane Doe" After this the small girl started to push her friend to the door while replying "OK-where-not-intersted-have-a-good-life-thank-you-for-the-offer-but-we-have-to-go" When they left the building they missed the small breakdown in the woman's grin after she took Toph's hint.

"Why did you do that?" he asked her once they we're outside "You can't be that naïve…" The only pamphlet the woman gave them said 'Take a vacation at Lake LaoGai' and after she tossed it to nearby trash can she continued "I'm sure that if I've left you with that woman you'll be right now wearing a robe, covered in tattoos and completely bald" he then imagined the picture that his friend just described and it sended a chill to his spine.

"Okay let's forget about what just happened…" with a swift move he took the bike from his back and the climb the driver seat while leaving his backpack in the bike's container "…Now let's get going…" Initially the girl was unsure of climbing the transportation with him "C'mon" he smiled warmly "I don't bite… unless you're a big lettuce" she chuckled to the comment and this made almost all her fear suddenly disappeared, then she hesitantly climbed just behind him and secure herself by getting close to his body and clinging her arms around the boy's waist.

When he was sure that his friend was secure he started to gain speed and then screamed "Hang on!" He really was a good driver when it comes to bicycles, but the girl's problem was the fact that he was going too fast which only make her get closer to his body and squeeze him a bit harder, while trying to relax herself she couldn't avoid but smell the boy's essence 'Fresh air?' she took another breath because it was impossible for someone to smell like that once she was done she recognize the smell as what it was 'Yup…Fresh air…' in that moment a smile was inevitable then she tried to rest the head on his back but…

"Hey Toph…" "…uh…?" she sounded disappointed but it was immediately rewarded by the sight to his left, the sun over the ocean, some birds flying by, and a few fishing boats creating an intoxicating atmosphere "Beautiful… isn't it…?" sometimes she wondered why he choose this route because the school get's farther by this way but apparently this wasn't a problem to him, 'Damn his strong legs'

Now that they had a reasonable speed and his body prevented any wind from hitting her plus the beautiful view so in other words… it was a perfect moment "…sure…" she then took this moment to snuggle closer to his body, causing a blush on her particular driver, in that moment he tried to say something but the words didn't come out because something he couldn't describe didn't let him...

...

...

once he regain sense of himself he turned his head a bit to tell her something but…

'…Is she asleep…?'


	3. School Day Part 2

**AU: ·claps·** Thank you, thank you **·claps louder·**

I'm back!·claps louder·

**·I turn off the stereo·**

Okay first thing is first i want to thank all the people who review my story now lets start with... **·the director approaches·** 'we don't have time'

Really?**·he nods·** Oh Ok...

...

Let's start with!:

**Aria's Locket**

**shabazzpicturepresents**

**imotel**

·the security guards tackled me·

**Nah seriously, thank you all! enjoy!**

**Oh, I don't own avatar or the characters ·sobs·**

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><p><strong>Study Nights III<strong>

**Chapter 3 - School Day (Part 2)**

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><p><strong>TOPH'S P.O.V<strong>

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Mmm…

...

"…Tooooph…"

"…shudup…"

...

"But Toph… We're here"

After this my eyes opened immediately, the first thing I could notice is that my arms were still around his waist and my head was resting on his back, oh my god! I can feel the blood going to my cheeks; please don't let him see me!

"C'mon get up it's already late" phew, good luck for me that he can't see me from his position, I obeyed him (this was a very rare time I did that) and while I was getting off the backseat I couldn't help but miss the warmth his body provided, he was a magnificent pillow…

The moment I started rubbing my left eye with one of my sweater's sleeves (**AU: She's wearing an oversided green sweater by the way**) I noticed the parking lot completely empty, its… 8:12 in my phone's clock, I guess everyone's already in their classrooms "You slept well, uh?" I could hear my friend's voice while he got off the bicycle "What do you mean?" I answer back not knowing what he meant

"um… you have some…" instead of continuing the sentence he started to wipe his mouth with the thumb, when I caught the meaning of this I immediately checked my mouth only to find a thread of saliva running down to my chin, I started to desperately wipe it out with my other sleeve

When I heard his laugh I shot an angry glare to the culprit's direction (and accidentally a blush (he didn't noticed, he didn't noticed, he didn't noticed…)) "Calm down, calm down, I won't tell anyone" He didn't noticed…

"I know because if you do-" he raised the hands to interrupt me "You can threat me later, right now, we have to go!" I sighed because it's already late "Fine… but we'll settle this aft-" "Yeah-yeah, let's go!" Next thing I know is that Twinkles grabbed my hand by the wrist and now we're running to the building's main entrance

...

THIS PLACE IS HUGE!

It took us at least 10 minutes to cross the entire facility to get to English class, the plan was originally get in calmly and then made up an excuse, but… ""WE'RE HERE!" we changed it to just get in and then attract the attention yelling, great plan, uh...?

"Oh Mrs. Toph, Aang it's you, come in" Professor Iroh said and motioned us to take our seats, then the class b···h (Azula) got up from her seat "Professor with a all respect, you shouldn't let them in I mean it's not fair for any of us who arrived early to your class" I consider myself a very tolerant person, (well the necessary…) but I hate that (censored (censored (CENSORED!))) and psychotic (censored), to this day I can't fully understand how some wonderful people like Gramps and Sparky could possibly be related to her

"Knowledge is for everyone interested on it, even to the ones who arrive late" I LOVE HIM! "but-" I HATE HER! "Enough, you two never let this happen again and you little miss drop the matter" He might get a little to much in his own speeches and proverbs but we always like him as a teacher and as a person because he's fair person and is always helping us

While we went to our seats, I could feel Wacko's glare on me and Aang, so when I turned out to see if I were right, there she was staring at us with that lunatic smile of her so in retaliation I stuck up my tongue, I was happy to see anger filling those crazy-ass eyes

...

20 minutes has passed and I'm already falling asleep again, I know that this was the cause of my problem with Mr. Catfish but, I couldn't help it! This class sometimes is boring the teacher's lectures were kind of annoying but interesting in the end, but overall annoying, so that's why I turned around to catch a glimpse of Aang writing every single thing Gramps said, What a nerd…

But… I still lov-LIKE HIM! YES LIKE HIM! That's the right word, after a couple minutes when the teacher went to the board to write something, Wacko took this chance to throw me a paper ball, I react fast enough to catch it and then give it back to the owner's face with twice the strength

I felt so good when that thing made a dry noise against the other thing's face, when 'she' recovered and turned to look at me I saw an even more lunatic and angry glare than the usual, I just smiled about it and let my hair bangs cover it, it was also a good thing that she were a few seats in front of me so when the Professor noticed that his niece's attention where someplace else

"Azula, you got something to share with the rest of us?" His voice clear and steady "…no…" It was obvious that she was speaking through her teeth, a clear sign of anger, the teacher saw this too but he just let it pass "Alright… where was I?... Oh yeah…"

The teacher returned his attention to the unfinished speech, fortunately he just missed how I took part of this that only made my smile got bigger "…Toph…" the person on my right started a low volume conversation

"What is it Twinkletoes?" I responded with the same volume to avoid anymore troubles "You know you didn't have to do that, right?" I snorted "She deserved that and more, y**ou know** that" He checked to see if Gramps was looking to this way before continue "At least stop smiling" "I'll do it when you stop too…" We chuckled silently and just drop the matter as the professor said early

After the class we both agree to see each other at lunch, then Aang and I walked in opposite directions, to Art class and Math class respectively

I hope the rest of the day would be more normal, or less weird…

**NORMAL P.O.V.**

After 3 hours it was now time for lunch

Somehow the couple managed to hold a couple hours away from each other with the scale of incident at… normal

"…Finally" Said a greyed eyed boy while he entered the cafeteria, he was entirely covered of dust and had a messy look, without minding about the people staring he only grabbed a tray and took a place in the line with the rest of the crowd

While on the other side of the building a greened eyed lady did the same as him, except that her petite face was completely painted, mostly on her right eye which had black paint all over "…Finally" she whispered just like someone else did

After asking for the usual vegetarian dish he took a seat in one of the nearby tables, the he started with his food knowing that the normal company wasn't too far, when she arrived and without noticing his dirty look she simply said "hi"

"hi" he answered back "So, how was you-" She stopped once she noticed the thick layer of dust covering his body "What happened to you?" she asked between giggles

He took his attention from his lunch and give it to her "Ok, it was a-" he also stopped in a mid sentence when he looked how her face was a victim of modern art "What happened to **you**?"

"I asked first" "Yes I know, it surprise me the fact of hearing a panda talk" This time instead of the usual punch she took the apple on his tray and then threw it to his forehead, making part of the dust to fall on the food, well his food "Hey! I was eating that"

In retaliation she folds her arms across the chest and said "Well, not anymore, right?" he only sighed in defeat and let her get away with this one (again) "Ok, what's with all that paint?" "If I remember correctly I asked you first"

'THIS GIRL IS IMPOSSIBLE!' he though "Ok, what do you want to know?" "It's not obvious?" she answered while taking a bite from the throwed apple (she cleaned it), he grunted but started telling the story "Well, after math class I went to the library for some books I needed and…"

**FLASHBACK**

(AU: STILL NORMAL P.O.V)

Aang went to the library tired because of Mr. Pakku's class and he needed some time to relax, but the fact of him being in the mighty Wan Shi Tong said the contrary

He had to find the books that the Professor Huu told them to read; it was something very rare of him because of the fact that he always excuses himself from the classroom to speak on the cell phone to the other teachers Tho and Due about what they did the last Weekend or what they're going to do the next one

Right now he needs to find them and in order to do it he needed help from the school's librarian, which Toph lovingly nicknamed Wan Shi Tong, it's obvious to said that no one in the entire campus has the courage to say that nickname in front of her, that's the reason why in the moment he asked for direction he used the real name to not make her mad

"….Here's the address" both of them stopped in front of the biggest bookcase on the place, it's easy to assume that it was at least 30 feet tall by 13 feet wide

"They all are in the 3 shelve from up down" said the elderly woman when she started to walk away "Wait, you're not going to help me?" he asked once he saw her walking away "Oh, you're right, sorry dear…"

The relief filled his lungs "The ladder is over there…" she pointed one finger to one of the corners "Try to be careful, OK?" answered the old lady before leaving the grey eyed boy in company of no one but the books

He knew very well that Wan Shi Tong was not coming back, so he just took the pointed ladder and started to move it from its place thanks to the wheels on the bottom, once he put the object in a convenient spot for himself he then started to climb

He only asked the librarian for help because she was always going up and down all the time from this same ladder and wasn't afraid of heights

Of course he wasn't scared of heights; instead he was scared of trusting his life to an old and rotten wooden ladder while he searched some biology books

Once on the obtained direction after putting the ladder's lock, he started to look for those darned books, the quantity of dust covering all the shelves was overwhelming but if he didn't move a lot there was nothing to worry about

After a few minutes he found a couple of the books he needed, and now he just needs to reach the third one which was at the end of the line

He wasn't a lazy person but he didn't feel like climbing down 30 feet to move the ladder for just a couple of inches, well it was actually for 8 inches, to solve this he pushed the ladder by moving himself along with it

The ladder's lock did the task a little more complicated, but after a few tries he was able to get to the other side of the bookcase, then he grabbed the last of the books and started to climb down

The only problem was that in the middle of the whole 'moving the ladder thing' he broke the lock by accident so when he started to climb down the ladder slide to the closest bookcase, this time the one behind him

This started a Domino effect, with the bookcases being the poor tiles, the people between them started to run away from the falling objects to avoid any injuries

But, Aang was just as lucky as the improvised domino tiles, because he fell on top of the bookcase in which he was just moments ago with a big thump, lifting up the book's dust in the process

When the dusty cloud dissipated, it could be seen the flabbergasted look on the old librarian's face which now was looking at the culprit laying on a mountain of books all covered by his victim's dust

When he was able to get up Wan Shi Tong yelled at him with an almost supernatural voice "WHAT HAPPENED!" he coughed in response and weakly answered

"…..ups?"

**END OF FLASHBACK**

Toph's laugh could be heard outside the cafeteria "I can't believe you single handily wrecked Wan Shi Tong's library" she said between chuckles

"It was an accident" he looked if it was still something eatable on his food tray "What happened next?" asked his best friend when her laugh died and she was cleaning the joy tears out of her face

"Well" he left the spoon drop itself in the tray because there was nothing left to eat on "Wan Shi Tong has zero tolerance for this kind of stuff even if it was an accident, she even tried to get me expelled!" the last part caught toph's attention "so they're really going to?" she questioned with actual concern

"Nah…" he said casually "the principal only punish me by making me do community service on my vacation" "…good" she whispered so low that Aang didn't heard it

"Now tell me" "tell you what?"

"Tell me why you look like a cute little panda" She was lucky that the improvised makeup covered the blush on her face after hearing the word 'cute' said by Aang to her, which made her stutter "I-It is no-o-ot of your business!"

"That's not fair!" he get up and raised his voice "I just told you my history! Now it's your turn" that moment made the impossible task of dominate the greened eyed girl, so without anymore arguments she started "Fine… If you insist… Remember I had Art class?" he nodded "Well, today…"

**FLASHBACK**

"All right class, I know that many of you had significantly advances in the last few months…" said Aunt Wu the art class, or if you rather The Fortune-teller courtesy of Toph herself "…But I don't want you to lose practice, and that's why we're going back to the basics…" then she walked to the classroom's centre were there was a blanket covering the table and something on top of it, she removed the blanket and let it fall to the ground "…You're going to paint a bowl of fruit" The excitement filled her words but the class didn't showed the same emotion as everyone whined because they had to start all over

"…Easy" she tried to maintain the order "Practice is essential and necessary, now start" Reluctantly everyone made what she said, including a certain teenager

"Very well… I have to run some errands, so don't stop I'll be right back" everyone was oblivious to the meaning of those words, only Toph knew the real reason why she always out in class hours, this was going to flirt with Gramps, the fact of only imagine both of them made her tremble

So she decided to repress the traumatic thought and go back to her paint, which really annoyed her to no extent, not the fact of doing the stupid bowl's paint (her words) but being in this amateurs class (again, her words), she's already an experienced artist, thank the private lesson from private teachers

In the end it was her own fault because she picked this elective instead of another one, the reason? It was the one Aang recommended; he thought it would help her temperament to ease, obviously it wasn't working

After 20 min there was something that looked more like a photo in Toph's canvas, then she looked at her fruity masterpiece and a satisfactory smile grew on her face, now the only thing left was to wait for the class to end, maybe rest up a little…

"…What do Aang sees in that girl?"

The mention of her friend's name made her head involuntarily begin a search for the source, when she found out who was the girl talking it didn't surprise her at all that it was that Meng girl, Fortune-teller's granddaughter and one-and-only member of Aang's stalkers club

"Why did he spend much time with her? He hasn't got enough of that heinous presence?" The word her made the suspect's list to become more diminished "In my opinion, I wouldn't like to have a greened eyed, black haired ghost following me around"

At this point it was evident that she was talking about Toph, and when she heard the description that Meng gave, the anger filled every single inch in her body, everyone was too focused on their painting to listen the girl's chatting or even Toph's slow fall to madness

The boiling rage was too much for a single human being she needed to get it out from her system, more specifically on Meng, but she wasn't capable of doing a scene in front of the class, besides there was just words from a crazy fan girl, what damage could they possibl-

"If the sweet Aang wasn't with that Bei Fong ···h, then he'll be mine"

That was her signal to jump into action, she made the picture aside and the grabbed a peach from the bowl, this one didn't last long in her hand because it was now travelling straight to the loudmouth's mouth, the crash's sound and the missing fruit draw all the attention on the incident including the attacker's words

"NOW SHUT YOUR MOUTH!"

Everyone was surprised about it, but the next thing was even more uncanny, the victim took the same peach and returned it to the sender

Almost immediately when she felt the fruit implode on the back of her neck, she threw herself at Meng, making them both to fall down on the ground

While both of them rolled all over the floor punching and yelling (mostly Toph), the rest of the class cheered them to continue, at some point Meng gained the upper hand and instead of placing her first punch, she took two brushes that fell on the floor and some paint "Let's add some colour to that pale face"

It take her 20 seconds to paint a Picasso all over her face specially a black spot over her right eye, when the moment ended the girl under the stocker regained the upper hand and motioned to do the same thing on the pony tailed girl

But before she could, the teacher returned and the entire crowd went back to their seats, when the girls got back up the Fortune-teller asked them

"What do you have to say in your defence?"

None of them say anything, and just remained silent, until Toph broke the silence

"She started it"

**END OF ****FLASHBACK**

"Soooooo….. Meng insulted you?" "Yup"

He lifted an eyebrow "Why?"

She didn't mentioned the Aang's part as the root of the problem, only said about the fight

"I… don't know…" "You don't know? Then why you two fought each other?" She couldn't answer because she didn't know why

Actually she wasn't really bothered about Meng calling her names; the real reason was that she couldn't stand that crazy girl drooling over her Aang (her thoughts); it was enough that her stalker would always be there

"I don't know why she attacked me you know how crazy she is"

Those last words made echo in his mind and made all the Meng's moments to play all-over again on his mind, from her confession and reject and even the gym showers incident

"Maybe you're right" he made an uncomfortable face because of the last memory "What happened next?"

"Nothing, Aunt Wu lectured us about not using art supplies as toys and made us clean up the mess" she smiled about what she said, he saw through her hair bangs and asked "If she made you clean up the mess then, why are you smiling?"

She pointed at something behind him and simply said "because of that" when he turned around the first thing that caught his attention was a person completely soaked in humorous drawings, he turned to see Toph with a 'You didn't!' look

She still smiled but not because of what she did to her but because of the agreement between them, (And I quote… "IF YOU EVER GOT NEAR HIM AGAIN, I'M GOING TO BEAT YOU SO BAD THAT YOUR ANCESTORS ARE GOING TO FEEL IT!"), when she noticed the look he gave to her, she only said

"Like you weren't happy about it"

* * *

><p><strong>wow... i still have some doubts about the ending... so what do you think? Pleaz review you're saving the pndas if you do<strong>


	4. School Night? Part 3

**AU: **wow... it feels good to be back even after a long time, I keep myself busy with college, my girlfriend, my friend's partys, family celebration, etc... so here is the next part of my Taang story, I hope you enjoy it, it has a few grammar errors so don't be so harsh with the reviews

**Disclaimer: **·wait, what do you mean by 'if you don't tell them that you don't own Avatar we'll kill your pig-rabbit!'· ·hello!· ·HELLO!·

* * *

><p><strong>Study Nights IV<strong>

**Chapter 4 - School...Night? (Part 3)**

* * *

><p><strong>AANG'S P.O.V<strong>

…..

…..

…

…

….

….

…

.

…"ugh"…

…..

·more grunts·

…

….

…"what the…"….

….."UGH!"….

…..

….

…

Have you ever felt a hammer hitting your head? ... Well imagine it x20, and you can grasp the half of bad my entire body feels… I can't get up not because I can't feel my limbs but because my brain hasn't communicate with any of them, for the moment I can only rely on my eyes, and thanks to a little street light this are capable of distinguish the ceiling of the place where I am, a little blurry tough, and unlike my apartment's ceiling this one is perfectly white and didn't had a brilliant green stain caused by a spontaneous chemistry experiment.

Now that I recovered some sense of mobility, I turn my head to watch a bit more my surroundings, at my right there's an expensive carved wooden furniture, perfectly matching the ceiling's style with an almost pearly white color, that almost instantly tells me that this wasn't my room or my apartment for that matter.

At the other side I see something that makes me doubt about my previous statement, because above the ostentatious piece of furniture, there's a photograph of two teenagers, more precisely Toph and myself, in our last vacations on Whale Tail Island

… wow…

…she looks great in that green bikini…wait… where that come from?... alright, let's focus on thing at the time…

I can finally feel the rest of my body parts, aaaa…nd the feeling is not as nice as I thought it would be, the heaviness on my body it's almost unbearable, specially on my back… I'll try to support on my arms to get myself off the bed I'm into…

"There's… anybo-Ahh!"

The effort was rewarded by an excruciating pain in my lower back and a loud scream that echoed the entire room; I took this as the signal to never try that again.

"AANG ARE YOU OK?"

Said a high pitched voice, I guess it's a girl... I hope a cute one… she rushed to my side and held my head and body to avoid myself getting hurt, but, with an unbelievable strong hold.

And after a few minutes she managed to calm me down, "Aang-are-you-ok-does-it-hurt-you-have-fever-you-need-anything-else?" the speed the words came out of her mouth doesn't help my absent-minded-self into recognize her.

She was so close that I could feel her warm breath all over my face, and somehow… I felt… more comfortable… I think I have to see by myself if this girl is cute

And I was right…

When I was capable of opening my eyes I was greeted by a very familiar pair of pale greenish eyes, and then I grinned and did what I usually do… it seems that I was right

"In that order… yes-a-bit-no-no-thanks…"

With some pain reflected in my voice tough

I could clearly see that she felt the lame try of a joke and forced a smile "… don't make me kill you while you're like this…" I tried to laugh but I couldn't "sorry Toph… it's a habit"

"It's good to see you in the same mood" something seemed wrong, and it was the fact that she answered back with a hint of sadness in her voice, which is very weird because even in the most inappropriate moments she always has a more explosive temper

Then she started to get up "Well… call if you need anything" the moment I saw her walking away after telling me this, was the moment I decided to know why she was acting like this…

Boy… I'm going to regret this…

**NORMAL P.O.V**

With some difficulties the boy wrapped with bandages all around his upper body, mostly the torso, and an obvious pain all over him, got himself up from the bed into a sitting position and grabbed the girl's wrist with a firm hold impending her from moving another inch.

"…wait…"

With all the pain he was experimenting that was the only word he could mutter, this caught her by surprise because she didn't expect that he could move at all, much less getting himself up.

But that didn't discard the fact that he was hurting himself, even if the pale girl promised to take care of him and be gentle, the anger and worry won in the end

"AANG! YOU STUPID! WHAT ARE YOU DOING! YOU SHOULDN'T BE UP!"

These screams didn't stop him, and he just tried to make his usual grin and then said…

"Then… tell me… what's going on… because… this really hurts"

But the grin didn't came out entirely, just a bit, and the phrase left his mouth in one single breath with a raspy voice, followed almost immediately by a bunch of small shaky breaths.

He then started to plummet back to the bed, when Toph saw this she hold him to avoid any harm from the fall; she then put him gently on bed, he was covered in sweat and the shaky breaths went on for a few more seconds.

Once they stopped, the improvised nurse said a bit more caring but with an obvious anger "you're not in the condition, to move"

"…sorry… I couldn't… stand seeing you like this…"

The strength in his voice, caught her off-guard

"W-what do you mean?"

"Well…" he tried to get himself up again but this time a petite hand stop him from doing so, and instead kept him pressed against the mattress "oh yeah…. Sorry… well as I was saying… you never act like this… you're always… independent... direct… stubborn…confrontational-"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it I'm awesome, your point?"

He chuckled, he also loved-LIKED her overconfident personality "…you never let that anything… affects you… unless something really-really-really bad happened…"

A small smile appeared in her face, a genuine one for the first time during the entire conversation "You mean… you really don't remember?"

Now he was the confused one "…There's something… I should remember?"

She saw that he mean it "…You are truly an airhead! How can you not remember the whole thing!" then she started to laugh and tried to suppressed it with her free hand

"Ok-ok, I'm glad that I made you laugh but… you're going to tell me or keep up like that?"

"Sorry-sorry…" she said between small chuckles "Well I guess I should have seen this coming, Katara said that there was a chance that you were not going to remember the whole ordeal due the hit in your head"

"…Hit in the head?" he asked with concern "Never mind" she said with such a free-care attitude that left Aang even more worried "We'll get to it eventually"

"What's the last thing you remember?" he tried hard to think about the last thing he was doing, then answered her question "…the cafeteria stories about my accident and your fight…"

"Well after that we both went to the rest of our classes you had woodshop and I had practice with the cheerleaders, so… "

**FLASHBACK**

(AU: STILL NORMAL P.O.V)

"Okay girls that's enough for today's practice! You're dismissed!" said Mrs. Yue with her usual enthusiasm "…Thank the spirits…" muttered Toph in a single sigh, even if she was an athletic girl it was difficult to not pass-out after one of Lunatic's sessions (a nickname born from Toph after saying "how someone who claims being sane would bleach her hair like that?").

"I need a shower" said the pale girl after seeing the thick layers of sweat on her outfit, she didn't mind about it but her friends would.

"You need a shower" said her female best friend "Thanks Captain Obvious…" answered while turning herself around to keep talking to the girl with sun-kissed skin, long curly brown hair and bright blue eyes "… I didn't know you cared about my personal hygiene"

"You're kidding me? After the whole healthy-coat-of-earth thing, from grade school we need you under constant surveillance" she joked at one of her favourite memories "…whatever" commented her friend with an annoyed tone and started to walk away.

Katara run after her while saying "C'mon I was just kidding…" the answer was another annoyed sigh from the Bei Fong girl "anyway… I know what would cheer you up ~"

This caught her attention and just put the whole thing aside for a moment "what is it?" the moment she heard the curiosity in her friend's voice she blocked her path and put one of her best smiles

"You remember that I couldn't help you studying because of my Chemistry exam the next week?" Toph crossed her arms and grinned "not really… it wasn't a Biology test?"

Her eyes were wide open because of this "er-er I-I mean-" she was now stuttering words randomly in search of another excuse, these were the moments Toph loved, but she was tempted to hear her friend's news...

"Alright, alright, Sparky and you had another fight, what are the news?" …And mess up with her a bit more too, Katara blushed at her comment and answered almost immediately "WE DIDN'T HAD A FIGHT! … We just took a… break?"

"You're going to tell me or what?" she couldn't but smile at her friend's small meltdown from her immaculate persona "oh yeah… ·nervous laugh· … it turns out that I'm free this weekend to tutor you, isn't that great!"

Katara was now closing her eyes and preparing herself for an extremely tight hug and lots of 'THANK'S YOURE THE BEST' from the small girl in front of her, but after hearing nothing for a whole minute she opened her eyes to see what happened to the usual reaction of her friend

Her bright blue eyes met a very surprised expression on Toph's face, but the rest of herself remained in the same position "Toph? Something is wrong?" said in an almost maternal tone

"Huh?" the worried voice seemed to take her out of trance, then Katara continued "I though you'll be happy about it" "…I don't know what to say" she **really** doesn't.

She was again struggling with her inner self; Of course there wasn't a better choice to this than the top class genius, and she was about to tell her friend to don't bother, that she already got some help, but then…

She remembered the park incident and this morning odyssey with her current tutor and how weird they felt, it was a something new to her and completely unknown.

The problem is: she was willing to go through that again? She could escape the whole thing right now by accepting Katara's help and find out a way to tell Aang, it was as simple as that…

"…Toph? You still want me to-" "I'm sorry Katara I already found someone else to help me out, but thanks anyway" the answer left her lips almost immediately and without knowing if this time the words came out by themselves or she spoke them "now if you excuse me I'll go change myself" then she walked around her now confused friend and straight to the girl's locker room.

The rest of the day went smoothly and surprisingly calm for the both of them, a few more classes and they were off the hook and starting with Toph's tutoring, the small girl with an oversized green sweater was waiting in the parking lotfor her best friend's arrival.

In the mean time she repeated to herself over and over again 'What is taking so long?' she wanted to end as soon as possible the boring teachings of the Algebra matter…

Or this was what she thought… Because in reality she was excited about spending some time alone with Aang.

The word 'alone' brought an unexpected crimson shade to her face; she was adamant to almost all girlish thoughts about boys, even at her age she hadn't found someone so relatively close to call boyfriend, even the suitors her own parents arranged for her, rich, handsome and powerful inherits didn't filled her own expectatives, she usually saw them as pedant, snobbish and stupid.

But then Aang entered in the frame, he has been her dearest friend to the date; it didn't seemed to matter that she met Katara or Sokka before, they weren't as close as they were.

He was always there to her, never leaving her alone in the worst situations and sharing the best of them, the warm in his heart was always inviting and comforting she couldn't imagine a best place to be, but near around him, but that wasn't it.

The physical features weren't absent on this matter, every time they were around she felt even smaller than she really was, it wasn't a big difference but she always needed to look up to just speak to him, there she could look at his entire body…

Even if he was some kind of nerdy-guy he was well fitted, the shaggy hair was always a temptation to her she would love to play with it and those gray eyes always kept a sense of welcoming and tranquillity that would make her stare at them forever.

The thoughts of her best friend left an unimaginable red colour plastered all over her porcelain features, it was the first time she thought of him that way and she didn't know if she had to be worried or happy.

Then she felt something moving at her, and when she turned around, she saw a rock flying towards her; she barely escaped from the object's trajectory and when she did she focused in finding the culprit, her eyes met almost immediately with the person, she didn't need evidence to know it.

"YOU B··CH! YOU WERE NOT SUPPOSED TO EVADE THAT!" screamed in a roar in addition to a crazy delusional stare, almost the same as earlier just a bit more angrier "what is wrong with you!" yelled Toph while taking an offensive position, the next thing Azula did scared her supposed victim to the bone.

She laughed, it sounded like something just possessed her body and that was doing the maniac sound which gradually raised and then just died, the moment it stopped she focused her eyes again on the girl "you REALLY thiNk yOu CAN get AwAy! AfTEr thE tHing you Did TO Me thiS Morning!".

The feeling fade away after hearing this, and answered almost just as fiercely "Are you kidding me! You started the whole think!" by this moment people from the surroundings gazed upon them, but neither of them seemed to notice, Toph waited for a similar answer from her crazy opponent "I-don't-care" said Azula in a childish matter-of-fact tone

'Her mind was beyond gone and it was hopeless to expect somebody to help her', Toph remembered Zuko's word about her sister's sanity, then asked more calmly but with a defying tone "Then what do you want…?" she waited for an answer but Azula remained static for a few seconds, and was apparently talking with herself… after a whole minute of silence she lift her head that showed a blood-shot eyes

"…for-you-to-SUFFER!"

Then she lunged at Toph who was caught by surprise, she slammed her opponent's body to a car strong enough to cause a big bump in it, which looked like it would have been made by another car, three punches then connected to her stomach and face, when the fourth came she ducked and the fist made contact with the car's wrecked door.

"Now's my turn" the small girl took this chance to kick her in the belly and punch her once in the jaw, the crow that just formed around them was cheering them to continue but only yelling Toph's name.

Azula got up holding her sore arm, the hit in her jaw caused a small thread blood to run down her chin, she took advantage of the crowd's distraction and tackled the petite target to the ground, and then started to kick her in the ribs.

The crowd didn't like this and started to boo her, "SHUTUP!" Azula yelled but to no avail, she was not the tolerant type and less when someone else was being supported instead of her, the boot made contact to another random bone but this time it didn't move, because Toph was holding it "damnyou…" muttered the attacker while trying to recover the limb, when this didn't work out she supported instead on the embraced foot and was preparing to continue with the free leg.

Toph evade the kick aimed to her head, and swiftly crossed her own legs around the captured limb, while Azula returned into the original position, the legs around her own applied pressure enough to lose the balance thus making her trip and falling face first into the concrete floor.

Meanwhile, on some buildings near them a very familiar boy with gray eyes and a friend of his walked in their direction unaware of the situation

"Wow… I can't believe you actually did it, the glider looks awesome" said a boy in a complex looking wooden wheel chair "Thanks again" "je, no prob Theo, it wasn't a big deal" answered Aang while scratching the back of his head a bit ashamed of the statement "but it is a big deal! Now I'll be able to fly around without leaving my chair!" the excitement was almost palpable in his voice, but the other boy's was worried at this "er-er, I think you should take it easy on that, after all we haven't tested yet"

The person named Theo propelled back to earth from the mushy clouds he was already flying by and look up to him with an angry look "What are you saying! It is my father's design after all! It's going to work!" Aang knew that the kid had a great respect for his father's inventions and didn't tolerate anyone that questioned him; the problem was that Theo's father was a bit… a tiny bit… eccentric… one example was his last big experiment with peanut sauce which caused a great explosion that cost him three fingers and left him some weird eyebrows.

Of course he didn't say this out loud "calm down I know it's going to work but you don't think we should-what's happening over there?" the conversation was left there when they noticed the enormous crowd in the parking lot cheering and screaming, but neither of them saw beyond them nor listened the chantics "I don't know let's go see" the wooden chair was already gone once he finished the sentence, Aang saw this and started to run to catch up with him.

They got closer and closer, so they could hear more clearly what the people yelled "Toph! Toph! Toph!" he didn't hesitate to run even faster, even surpassing his fellow racer "Aang wait for me!" yelled helplessly at him, it was difficult enough to sprint in a wheel chair now he has to reach him.

Aang opened a path throw the hungry crowd to see why they were yelling his friend's name, after pushing some of them away he managed to get to the front row of the spectacle, he then saw a petite figure wearing a green sweater smeared with blood on top of Azula and beating her savagely, from his perspective it was obvious that the so called person pinned to the ground already received enough punishment.

He decided that this needed to end now, much to the crowd's dismay "wha-LET ME GO!" yelled an angry Toph while Aang tried to carry her away from her almost knocked out opponent "it's enough Toph! You already won!" in her state of blind rage she started to throw punches at random targets around in order to set herself free, until she made contact with someone else's cheek and heard this person flinch.

This act clicked some reality into her "OH AANG I'M SORRY!" he hold the place where the punch landed and tried to hide the obvious pain, the apologies didn't seemed to over even after he replied with a hint of pain in his voice"…don't worry I'm fine…" by this point the people around them started to walk away disappointed only a few of them stopped to congratulate the winner but she was to busy to pay attention to them.

"Oh my… I'msosorry I'msosorry I'msosorry I'msosorry" she completely forgot the fight, and just continued to apologize, the pain in his cheek diminished and replied "again, don't worry I'm ok…you're ok?" the place he was holding was visibly red and this caused a similar colour to appear in the small girl cheeks out of embarrassment for punching him "I am…but look at you…"

She held his face with her hands checking if there was anymore visible damage than the one she caused, their faces were just inches apart but Toph was too worried to even notice but Aang did, he flushed at their closeness; it was the first time he felt awkward from her touch, but he didn't found the voice to mutter a single word.

"Well… what a cute couple" someone behind them interrupted, it was Theo who finally reach the place "If you want to kiss him just do it, pretend I'm not here" added in a casual voice, the green eyed girl finally noticed their position; both of them quickly separate from each other blushing profusely.

It was an awkward silence, the first one they ever shared until Toph broke it "w-w-well I think we should go, uh?" "…yeah y-you're right" answered Aang in the same shy way, while the three of them started to walk away a click was heard, but Aang was the only who hear it.

He then turned around to see what it was, it was Azula holding some small object between her sore hands and aiming it to Toph, the object's aimed part held a few sparks coming out of it; he saw a twisted smile in her face and almost instinctively pushed the target out of the way "WATCH OUT!" yelled before two spikes were shot from object and made contact with his back, the next thing he felt was a jolt of electricity running all over his body, entering through the metal spikes.

"AANG!" yelled Azula's original target while this one watched with satisfaction how he reacted, she thought that this was even better than hitting Toph because now she could feel even worse so she squeezed even more the trigger sending an extra charge to his body, Aang felt every bit of it and his body trembled even more.

The smile was wider when she watched him stirring back and forth, but it came to an end the moment a strong fist made contact with it, thus stopping the flux of electricity from the device "geez, I think you broke her one tooth" commented the wheel chair boy "hurry, gimme your phone!" he gave it to her without hesitate, she run back to his friend's barely conscious body while she dialled a number "c'mon answer…" "Hang in there twinkle toes…" she tried to flip him into his back so he could be in a more comfortable position, that's when she noticed that his eyelids were closed and didn't responded to her voice, Toph couldn't hold her tears anymore while trying to wake him up.

"AANG! AANG!"

That was the last thing he heard before losing consciousness

**END OF FLASHBACK**

"…and that's pretty much it" finished Toph, the story seemed to refresh some of his memories "je…crazy day, uh?" answered trying to cheer up the situation "wait… what happened to Azula?" the mention of her name bring a smile to her face for the first time, something very weird in her "I think we shouldn't worry about her anymore…" "What do you mean?" asked in confusion "after we left the police came by and we explain them the whole situation, I think it's her fifth or sixth offense so now they're going to take her to some mental institution or something" it was good seeing her smile he thought but never crossed his mouth.

"…And whom you called?" "Katara… she wants to be a doctor so I thought it was the best option, when she got there she tried tend to your wounds a-and…" she started to sound obviously shy, Aang noted this, it was the first time he saw this and it was quite disturbing.

"…and?" he push it a little "a-a-and tried to resurrect you: cardiac massage, mouth to mouth respiration-sort-of-thing; you know the usual stuff…" he was visibly red after hearing this, but shrugged it off because the Katara thing was water under the bridge, and he knew that it was for his own good, unknown to him Toph had a problem letting it go.

"One last thing…" he interrupt her thoughts again "…how did I get here?" "Well… after that I called to the taxi company, and called for one, it happens that it was an old friend's cab and he was more than willing to help us out, I told Theo and Katara that I could handle it and then they left, on the road I called to your grandpa's mobile and…" she suddenly giggled about something "why are giggling?" he didn't understand the joke

**FLASHBACK**

"…grandpa It's me Toph, listen I need you to-" "Toph is great to hear your voice, listen I-I have a…little…problem" how this changed so fast about victims, she was worried about his unconscious friend in the back seat but it seemed that she was compromised to ask "what happened?"

"Ummmmm…. You remember the White Lotus bar?" she forced her memory a bit "yeah… the one by the zoo, right?" "Yes that one… well… some friends and I… well… set it… on fire by accident… but just a little bit" "What!" it didn't sound so weird in retrospective.

"We were a little drunk one thin led to another and before we know it… Jeong-Jeong lit up a cigar toss it in the trash can and that started the fire"

"But that shouldn't cause a big fire"

"You're right… but then we thought we could extinguish it by ourselves, so we grab the curtains and tossed them in the trash can in order to suffocate it, but that only made things worse"

It sounded so ridiculous she was about to burst into laughs "…where are you?"

"We're all hiding in a Bumi's house, but I don't think the policies too far from here, you know anyone that might be able to help us?"

'Someone to help you?' she turned to her personal driver, this one was focused on the road and feeding at the same time his pig-rabbit with a carrot while resting on the shoulder.

"I think I know someone…" said mischievously

"Good, so why did you call me?"

**END OF FLASHBACK**

"…He was sick worried about you, but I don't think he would been able to do something from behind some metal bars so he asked me to look after you" the boy in bandages laugh quietly then said "and he only went for a jog" he coughed because of the effort he put in it

She stroked his forehead in a relaxing motion "…You should rest some more… after all Katara said that you should be fine by tomorrow morning" the touch did his work and relaxed even more "…sorry" he muttered.

A confused look appeared in her face "Why are you sorry for?" "…For not being able to help you in our first study day…" It was amusing that still in his condition he was worried about her wellbeing; this act touched her heart almost immediately "I was the one who caused all this you don't have to apologize" finished with some hurt in her voice, she felt the same hand that was holding her earlier but this time it was caressing her cheek "It wasn't your fault neither it was Wacko's" That words made the guilt vanish completely and caused another warmth in her skin.

"…thanks" she finally showed her usual smile and Aang felt happy about it, none of them noticed that her hand was still pinning him to the bed, the naked muscular chest was beating a steady rhythm that Toph unconsciously enjoyed.

Another silence appeared, but this was a comfortable one and neither of them wanted to break it, so they just remained like that, staring at each other for what it seemed like hours but in reality it was only a few minutes…

"…you need to rest ….." she finally ended the moment much to their disappointment, removed her hand from the warm skin where it was, he forced a smile and reluctantly moved his hand too "I think you're right"

She started to leave, but then turned to the bed pushed some locks behind her right ear and gave him a quick kiss in the forehead, he froze and open his eyes like a plates, it felt longer than two seconds to him "goodnight Aang…" said before leaving a baffled Aang to rest

He tried to say something but the words were trapped inside him, he somehow forgot how to pronounce and his heart forgot how to beat to, and even if there was no one that could hear him he needed to respond "…...goodnight…." said before starting to drift into a sleep.

"…Toph"

* * *

><p><strong>AU: I don't know about you but I liked this ending, tell me what you think about it so review and I'll give you a Chihuahua, a Sombrero and some Tacos (I'm hispanic if you don't remember so... I'm not familiarized with the racism thing)<strong>


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